Although the painting was "confirmed" to be Leonardo in 2011, Salvator Mundi, (translates to "Savior of the World") has been getting a lot of press lately because it will be sold at auction in the near future and is much more accessible than it has been the past few years in a private collection. The estimated value is something like 40 million...so obviously I will be buying it (lol).

The painting is of Christ giving benediction, which obviously piqued by interest (just look at my portfolio and you'll understand why), but the most interesting part is Leonardo's inclusion of a crystal orb in Christ's left hand.

Not only is it a strange symbol, it's also painted pretty terribly...at least in a representational sense. For someone who studied random weeds just so he could paint them accurately, he really phoned in the complexity of this orb. It completely ignores how light would travel through an orb-like lens. He basically just painted what would be behind it, rather than worrying about reflected imagery or refracted light.

Was it on purpose? Was he worried about it weighing on his composition? Is it actually Leonardo? I mean, I'm not claiming to be an art historian or scholar in any way, but everything else looks like him. The hair is dead-on. The knot-work in the clothing is dead on. Was it unfinished and finished by a student? 

It's really confusing...and that's the main reason I f&%*ing love this painting.

Is it a symbol for the cosmos? Is it a symbol for time? Did he just think it would be a cool thing for his other hand?

So many unanswered questions. Perhaps just as many, if not more than, the Mona Lisa it has been compared to.

What do you think?